Card stacker

ABSTRACT

A stacker for thin and relatively stiff cards, such as IBM cards, guides successive cards travelling on an edge and is so arranged with respect to a tray that the cards fall by gravity sideways to be stacked on top of each other in an orderly stack on the bottom of the tray.

[451 Nov. 11,1975

United States Patent [191 Mano et al.

[5 CARD STACKER 3.092.380 6/1963 Anderson et al. 271/126 Z 220 i 9 19 W'271 I85 [75] Inventors: Hiroshl Mano, Yokohama; Hlroshl 6 H/ 65 mm atYamada, lchikawa, both of Japan Ricoh Co., Ltd

Dec. 18, 1974 T k Japan Prinmry E.\'uminerEv0n C. Blunk ASSISIUHIE.rwnuzer-Robert Smfer [73] Assignee:

[22] Filed:

Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Cooper, Dunham, Clark, Griffin & Moran Appl.No.:

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. 19. 1973 ABSTRACT A stackerfor thin and relatively stiff cards, such as IBM cards, guidessuccessive cards travelling on an edge and is so arranged with respectto a tray that the cards fall by gravity sideways to be stacked on topof Dump MW M 420nw4 2H72 5 510 E70 1 .72 1 Q ,5 7 H 2 1 u 4 .7 "m2 mmmmO mmm mmmfl mmf muh NC r ""8 ""e Us L C d s xm UIF HUN 555 [.lfl.

each other in an orderly stack on the bottom of the tray.

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures2.036.409 4/1936 Gollnick et al. l36/l00 US. Patent Nov. 11, 1975 FIG.2

CARD STACKERr BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OFTHE INVENTION I roller 3, but theupright wall 5 has, in additiona to a cutout Safor the feed roller 2, alarger cutout 5b which corresponds to the length of the card 1 butstarts at a vertical distance a from the bottom wall 8 which is lessthan the distance b between the facing surfacesof the upright walls'4and 5. The tray 7 has two upright walls 70 and 7b connected at theirbottom edges'by a bottom wall-7c. The guide 6 and'the tray 7 aresupported by a suitable fixed bracket9 such that the walls of the guideand of the tray extend along the same direction p, the bottom wall 8 ofthe guide is at the height of the top "edgeof the upright wall'7b of thetray and adjacent moved on their flat sides and are allowed to drop ontop I of each other onto a traybelow the card path to form a stackthereon.

While the prior art devices discussed above may be satisfactory forcertain uses, it is desirablein certain other uses to have a device inwhich successive processed cards are moved on an edge but are thenarranged in a neat stack, flat over each other, so that the stack can beconveniently moved to anothe'r processing step without further need formanual rearrangement. The invention is directed to providing a stackingdevice of this type. i I The card stacker which reflects the inventionis designed to work with thin and relatively stiff'cards, such astabulator cards commonly known as IBM cards: The card stacker includes achannel-shaped guide having a first and a second upright wall connectedat their bottom edges by a bottom wall. The guide extends along the topedge of one of the upright walls of a card tray, and the top end of theguide leans toward the other upright wall of the tray. The bottom wallof the guide and the bottom wall of the tray are substantiallyhorizontal. The upright wall of the guide which faces the far uprightwall of the tray has an opening which is larger than a card, so that acard aligned with the opening can fall through it toward the bottom ofthe tray due to gravity and the inclined position of the guide. The farupright wall of the tray may be inclined in the same direction as theguide, so as to cause the top edge of a card which falls sidewaysthrough the opening in the guide to strike the inclined far wall of thetray and slide therealong toward the bottom of the tray, so that theedges of all the cards in the stack can be aligned against the same traywall to form a neat stack. A stop may be provided in the guide if thecards are travelling along the guide at such speed that their inertiawould not allow them, without the stop, to fall through the opening, orif the cards do not travel at a steady speed along the guide.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cardstacker in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view along line 22 of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Successive cards 1 are moved in the direction ofthe arrow P along a guide 6 by a feed roller 2 and a keep roller 3 andfall sideways, as indicated by the arrow Q, into a tray 7 where they arestacked in a neat stack over each other and parallel to the bottom wallof the tray 7. The guide 6 comprises a pair of parallel upright walls 4and 5 and a bottom wall 8 connecting the bottom edges of the uprightwalls 4 and 5. The upright wall 4 may be continuous, except for a cutout4a for the keep thereto, and the top of the guide is inclined towardsthe far wall 721 of the tray, The cutout 5b of the guide faces I the farwall 7a of the tray. The far wall 7a of the tray i'sinclined in the samedirection from the vertical as the guide 6, and the bottom wall of thetray is sufficiently wide to accommodate a card lying flat thereon. Theupper edge of the far wall 70 is preferably at a level higher than thehorizontal extent of the cutout 5b in the upright wall 5 of the guide.The feed roller 2 and the keeproller 3 engage each other and the feedroller2 may be rotated by suitable drive means (not shown) to move acard 1 introduced, between the rollers in the directionof the arrow. P.i

In operation, a card l .is introduced between the rollers 2 and 3 to beengaged thereby and is moved by the rollers in the direction of thearrow P in an upright position, with the bottom edge of the card slidingalong the bottom wall 8 of the guide 6. The card continues travellingalong the guide 6 by inertia after its trailing end leaves the nipbetween the rollers 2 and 3 until its trailing edge moves within thecutout 5b in the upright wall 5 of the guide. At that time, since theguide 6 is inclined as seen in FIG. 2, the card starts falling sidewaysby gravity, along the direction of the arrow Q shown in FIG. 1. Notethat at this time the bottom edge of the card 1 is still supported bythe bottom wall 8 of the guide 6, so that the card 1 falls sideways in apivoting motion, with its top edge inscribing an arc along the arrow Qand with its lower end resting either on the bottom wall 8 of the guideor on the short portion of the upright wall 5 below the cutout 5b. Asthe upper edge of the card 1 continues its falling motion along the arcQ, it engages the far wall 7a of the tray and slides downwardly alongthe far wall 7a as the opposite edge of the card 1 clears the guide 6and the entire card starts falling downwardly into the tray 7 andultimately comes to rest in a position parallel to the bottom wall 7c ofthe tray 7, with one of its edges against the upright wall 7a of thetray. As successive cards are introduced in the nip of the rollers 2 and3, and go through the same path, successive cards 1 are piled in a neatstack in the tray 7, with one edge against the upright wall 7a of thetray. If the speed of travel of the cards 1 along the guide 6 is sogreat that inertia carries them too far past the cutout 5b, or if thespeed of the cards is irregular, a stop 10 may be provided to stop allcards at the same position and ensure that a neat stack is formed in thetray 7.

The invented card stacker relies on a unique relative arrangement of aguide and a tray which can use the force of gravity so that cards whichmove one by one in an upright position, on an edge, can be stacked flat,one over the other, in a neat stack having the corresponding edges ofthe cards arranged along a single upright plane. The invented cardstacker is simple in construction and operation, inexpensive andreliable.

I claim:

1. A stacker for prising:

a guide having a first and a second upright wall connected at theirbottom edges by a bottom wall, said walls defining therebetween a pathfor a card travelling in a plane parallel to the planes of the uprightwalls, with an edge of the card supported by the bottom wall of theguide;

a card tray having a first and a second upright wall connected at theirbottom edges by a bottom wall, said upright walls of the tray beingspaced from each other by a distance exceeding the upright dimension ofthe card when the card is travelling along the card path in the guide;

means for supporting the guide and the tray in a position in which theupright walls of the guide and of the tray extend along the samedirection, the bottom wall of the guide is at the height of the upperedge of the first upright wall of the tray and adjacent thereto, theupright walls of the guide lean toward the tray, and the second uprightwall of the guide is closer to the second upright wall of the tray thanthe first upright wall of the guide;

means defining an opening in said second upright wall of the guide whichis larger than thecard and thin and relatively stiff cards comis alignedwith the tray along the direction of the,

successive cards which fall by gravity through said i opening come torest stacked flat over each other i and parallel to the bottom wall ofthe tray. 2. A card stacker as in claim 1 wherein the second uprightwall of the tray is inclined from the vertical away from the firstupright wall of the tray and is positioned to engage the edge ofeachfalling card opposite the edge on which the card has travelled along thecard 1 path and to guide each falling card toward a position in which anedge of the card isiagainst said second upright wall of the tray.

3. A card stacker as in claim 1 wherein said opening in the secondupright wall of the guide is spaced uptwardly from the bottom wall ofthe guide by a distance which is less than the distance between thefacing sides of the upright walls of the guide.

4. A card stacker as in claim 1 including stop means disposed on saidcard path to cause each card travelling therealong to stop at a positionaligned with said opening in the second upright wall of the guide.

1. A stacker for thin and relatively stiff cards comprising: a guidehaving a first and a second upright wall connected at their bottom edgesby a bottom wall, sAid walls defining therebetween a path for a cardtravelling in a plane parallel to the planes of the upright walls, withan edge of the card supported by the bottom wall of the guide; a cardtray having a first and a second upright wall connected at their bottomedges by a bottom wall, said upright walls of the tray being spaced fromeach other by a distance exceeding the upright dimension of the cardwhen the card is travelling along the card path in the guide; means forsupporting the guide and the tray in a position in which the uprightwalls of the guide and of the tray extend along the same direction, thebottom wall of the guide is at the height of the upper edge of the firstupright wall of the tray and adjacent thereto, the upright walls of theguide lean toward the tray, and the second upright wall of the guide iscloser to the second upright wall of the tray than the first uprightwall of the guide; means defining an opening in said second upright wallof the guide which is larger than the card and is aligned with the trayalong the direction of the card path; and means for moving successivecards along said card path at a speed at which each card falls bygravity sideways toward the tray through said opening in the secondupright wall of the guide, whereby the successive cards which fall bygravity through said opening come to rest stacked flat over each otherand parallel to the bottom wall of the tray.
 2. A card stacker as inclaim 1 wherein the second upright wall of the tray is inclined from thevertical away from the first upright wall of the tray and is positionedto engage the edge of each falling card opposite the edge on which thecard has travelled along the card path and to guide each falling cardtoward a position in which an edge of the card is against said secondupright wall of the tray.
 3. A card stacker as in claim 1 wherein saidopening in the second upright wall of the guide is spaced upwardly fromthe bottom wall of the guide by a distance which is less than thedistance between the facing sides of the upright walls of the guide. 4.A card stacker as in claim 1 including stop means disposed on said cardpath to cause each card travelling therealong to stop at a positionaligned with said opening in the second upright wall of the guide.